[1][2] He was the son of Prativa and Amiya Kumar Raychaudhuri, the last zamindar of Kirtipasha in Barisal district of eastern Bengal.

He was a nephew of Kiran Shankar Roy[3] and Hem Chandra Roychaudhuri, through his paternal aunts.

in history at Calcutta University under the supervision of Sir Jadunath Sarkar, who was his Additional Supervisor and his second D.Phil.

[citation needed] He started his career as a lecturer at the Department of Islamic History and Culture, Calcutta University.

He became a national research professor in India in 2011[7][8] He died at home in Oxford (England) on 26 November 2014, after suffering a stroke.